Field Practice

How do YOU field practice? do you have a Routine, field games youv'e made up, practice situational shots, How long, How much, with or without a portable, where?
I have always heard field practice makes you better, but have heard little on how to do it.
Gaff

Replies to This Discussion

I try to practice my putting every morning. I work out every morning on my bowflex and in between sets I use my 9 blunts and blowflies to shoot practice putts at my basket in my garage. this gives me up to 24 feet to practice in. When the weather is ok I take it out to my back yard where I have a second basket. second, I go down the street to the park where they have several soccer fields and trees around and between them. I try to envision holes using the trees and other park equipment as obstacles. I then try different discs to make my shot using Hyzers anhyzers etc. I am by no means an expert. I have only been playing seriously for a little over a year but I feel like my game has really improved, and practicing "off the course" makes alot of difference.

i learned a long time ago to practice when i practice and play when i play. just throw everything, throw that easy straight 150ft approach shot with your most overstable disc, try to throw a tomohawk with your beat up stingray, launch drive after drive after drive with your midrange discs. forget about what the manufacturer says about the flight characteristics and throw every disc you have in every possible situation and find out for yourself what works.

which parts of my game do i think are weakest? find a spot on the golf course to practice those. if you want to be a pro you better have every shot in your bag so look for opportunities to throw that FH shot that you've been avoiding. many throws branch off from a simple forehand flick (FH approach,FH drive, FH roller, Tomohawk, Thumber) so get comfortable throwing FH shots by actually getting out there and practicing them. force yourself to stand behind that big bush and throw around it. stand behind those low hanging branches and tomohawk approach over them and throw those rollers BH and FH under them. put yourself into the positions in practice that make you uncomfortable when you play with a group.

an open field is great for learning technique to crush drives but nothing compares to being on a golf course for real practice imho.

I agree with what you said about putting yourself in uncomfortable positions on the course Joe, thats why I use all the trees and park equipment to set myself up for unusual shots. My trouble is the disc golf courses I like to play are all @ 25-30 minutes from my house. So when I drive there I want to play not practice. the park is only a mile down the road, so its alot easier for me to jump down there for an hour of practice. Sometimes my wife never even realizes I'm gone!

25-30 minutes away? ouch! i know i'm lucky in that i walk maybe twenty yards out of my room and can start up a round, you are pretty lucky to at least have some baskets and a park to throw in. blunts and blowflies are great for indoor practice, i used to have a stack of them i used inside my basement.

when i first started touring i always wanted to play a few rounds on the course before the tourney started but after awhile i realized that no matter where i went, i had played a shot just like that somewhere else. mental game is something we can practice anywhere, anytime.

Great talking with you Joe. How long you been golfin'? I use a blunt to putt with as well. It gives me alot of confidence when putting. They stick like glue on the chains. I don't understand why they are not more popular?

14 years now. seems like yesterday when i started. i like blunts/gumputts a lot but probably not seen in pro play more often because they are very low speed overstable and high speed very understable. not a good combo when the wind picks up. one great advantage they have is that if you hit grass under the pin you will practically stick like glue, alternatively if you hit grass 40ft away you now have a 40ft putt. the first run flat top green blunts were one of my favorite discs ever but unfortunately not made anymore. i hit the basket on a 480ft downhill drive with a blunt when everyone else was coming up short with their drivers.

if they are working for you that is all that matters, confidence when putting trumps all.

I do have a couple of those green ones. One of them feels like its made out of sponge rubber! Then I have a couple of the newer purple ones. 3 white blunts and 3 orange blunts. I have one green blowfly and one white blunt in my bag. I throw them on anything from @ 40-50 and in. (except if its windy then I use my gator)

I get out to my park once or so a week, it gets the kids out of the house. I've been taking my machlite out lately and at least 14 discs and 4 putters. I try to throw at least half of those straight or anhyzer, approach with the putters then putt each of my throws. Havnt decided whether it is helping much, I do get allot of throws in a short period of time. Having issues with competitive play, I dont do it much so I think that is an issue. how can you add a competitive feel to your practice?
Gaff

normally i go to a soccar park near my house and throw i mostly work on trying to get a pretty straight shot and then when i play i can work off of that straight shot and for putting i take the soccer goal post and mark about 1.5foot section about 3foot off the ground and try to hit the pole (i know it isnt exact but it helps)

I began practicing all wrong when I first started. I used to work just primarily on my drive. However, now a days, its a different story. When I want to practice when time permits, I take just my putter and approach disc and play on a course with just those two discs. Drive with my putter, and approach with the approach disc. Practice approaching from further out, and learning how to control a putter in the air.

After you can master those, you will definately see your drives go further. Drive for Flash, Putt for Cash.

competitive is for the tournament, otherwise you probably aren't practicing. if you want to "push yourself" when practicing on the other hand, set up pre-determined areas around the basket for example with a different score the closer you get to the pin, then try backing yourself up farther and farther yet scoring higher. this helps tremendously with putting and approach game since it adds value to a putt and encourages sound technique and strategic thinking.

i consider my approach range to be pretty much anything inside 300ft and i'm pretty confident in getting up and down in two thanks to years of practice like that.